New Beers
Barely a day goes by without another seasonal or one-off special flying out of an Australian brewery (if not ten). Here and in our weekly newsletter, we'll bring you news and, if we've sampled them, our take on as many of them as possible. Happy hunting!
Modus Operandi MMXX Russian Imperial Stout
Tapped June 23, 2020
They say there’s a beer for every occasion, and when it comes to imperial stouts, occasion matters. I drank Modus Operandi’s MMXX in the cold of night on the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, while watching Sherlock Holmes track a gigantic hound with coal-black fur across the dark, craggy moors of England. I challenge you to find a better occasion to drink it - short of perhaps cracking it upon the wintry moors themselves. In an era where chocolate, lactose and nitro are so often… Read more
Black
- Style
- Russian Imperial Stout
- ABV
- 8.5%
Batch Brewing Co Trippy Hippy’s Citra XPA, Vic & Pete’s Bodacious Nitro Pale & Beastie Boysenberry Sour Ale
Tapped June 23, 2020
Have you ever put on a pair of headphones, closed your eyes, and listened closely to a song that pans the sound from one ear to the other? If not, it's an experience worth having - try Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love, or for a more extreme example, Foo Fighters’ Hey, Johnny Park! The reason I bring it up is because I had the taste version of this with Batch’s Trippy Hippy Citra XPA - the flavours transition seamlessly between hops and malt. The sherbety citrus and tropical notes blend with… Read more
Red
- Style
- XPA & Nitro Pale & Fruit Sour
- ABV
- 5.0% & 5.0% & 4.5%
Molly Rose Brewing When Life Gives You Lemons
Tapped June 22, 2020
When Life Gives You Lemons started out as a one-off can release from Collingwood-based Molly Rose late in 2019. It was a hoppy farmhouse ale that also featured a spot of "dry-lemoning" with the aim of recreating a lemon slice like experience. Six months or so later, a new version of the beer has been released as one half of the brewery's canned core range. The biggest change is the reduction in alcohol content to a sessionable 4.2 percent ABV, although you're as likely to notice the canary… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Lemon Farmhouse Ale
- ABV
- 4.2%
Molly Rose Brewing Skylight IPA
Tapped June 22, 2020
To date, Molly Rose might have garnered most attention in beer circles for their esoteric sours, barrel-aged blends and subtle farmhouse style ales. Yet there's been a steady stream of hop forward pale ales and IPAs hitting taps at the brewpub and appearing in limited release in cans. And now an IPA has taken up permanent residency in the lineup. Skylight is tagged a classic West Coast IPA, and it's one that's an easy-drinker for the style, certainly when compared to other West Coast IPAs like Molly… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- IPA
- ABV
- 5.7%
Bright Brewery Guava Sweetart, Banana Split Stout & Black Diamond
Tapped June 22, 2020
And now for a spot of eclecticism from Bright Brewery... In the pink corner, the latest in their fun fruit sour series is Guava Sweetart. Bright golden and not so much sour as sweet-with-a-cleansing-clip, there's a schnapps-like edge to the aroma of what's otherwise as much tropical soft drink in character as it is beer. From tropical soft drink to dessert in a glass, namely the old school classic banana split sundae. Here, the brewers have added lactose, vanilla, cacao nibs and 400kg of ripe bananas… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Fruit Sour & Dessert Stout & Black IPA
- ABV
- 4.3% & 5.8% & 6.0%
Big Shed Brewers Series: Damn Cletus Black IPA
Tapped June 22, 2020
Damn Cletus is a big, dark behemoth of a black IPA, one Big Shed brewed in collaboration with long-time customers, The Forager’s Drop in Melbourne's east. Several dark speciality malts were used, including Eclipse Wheat – a variety designed to add black colour without the bitterness of other roasted malts – with US hops Simcoe, Mosaic and Cashmere completing the picture. At first look, it could be mistaken for an imperial stout given the very deep, dark black colour, and it wastes little time… Read more
Black
- Style
- Black IPA
- ABV
- 9.1%
- Bitterness
- 70 IBU
Fixation Brewing You're On Mute, Hearing Colours, Oi! & Seismic Wave
Tapped June 20, 2020
One of the boons for fans of Fixation's IPA obsessions through COVID-19 has been the brewing team's decision to release more beers in 500ml cans. Here they follow up May's quartet with four more, each bearing eye-catching labels from a selection of artists, including Fixation main man Tom Delmont's brother Will. You're On Mute comes with a comic strip design, complete with Donald Trump as a hop flower on mute, and takes the form of a West Coast IPA. It pours with the sort of golden glow that makes… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- IPAs
- ABV
- & 5.2% & 6.7% & 5.8%
Jetty Road Infinite IIPA
Tapped June 19, 2020
As origin stories go, that of Infinite 8 is rather atypical, inspired by an octopus mural by friend of Jetty Road Josh Brown that made its way onto one of the brewery's vans and, ultimately, a discussion as to what said octopi would look like in beer form. And that turned out to be an 8.8 percent ABV IIPA featuring eight varieties of US hops. Initially, you'd be most likely to find it at the Dromana taproom, poured under the watchful eye of its inspiration but for winter 2020 it's been given a limited… Read more
Golden
- Style
- IIPA
- ABV
- 8.8%
- Stockists
-
More stockists...
And other good beer stockists in VIC, NSW, QLD & SA
Brick Lane Someday Watermelon & Raspberry Sour
Tapped June 19, 2020
There's no rhyme or reason to the beer world these days. Unless, of course, you live by the motto: more of everything, always. You'd typically expect to see brewers launch a range of easy-going, fruity refreshers in the lead-up to summer rather than at a time when people in their hometown are waking up to morning frosts. But Brick Lane must figure any day is good for Someday. The series launches with a twin set, including this Watermelon & Raspberry offering. It's the former that takes to the… Read more
Golden
- Style
- Fruit Sour
- ABV
- 4.2%
- Stockists
-
Available in VIC, NSW & QLD
Or order direct here
Brick Lane Someday Blood Orange Sour
Tapped June 19, 2020
One of two fruit sours to leave Brick Lane at the same time in winter 2020, Blood Orange is the leaner of the pair. While Watermelon & Raspberry is akin to a sorbet in a can, here you're hit with a blast of unmistakable blood orange aromas in a beer that continues comes at you with a singular purpose. Clearer in the glass than its compatriot, anything overtly sour or funky is kept well under wraps, yet there's still a sharpness to its cleansing edge. Fruity, refreshing, easy-going. James Smith… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Fruit Sour
- ABV
- 4.2%
- Stockists
-
Available in VIC, NSW & QLD
Or order direct here
One Drop Brewing Double Take Double Blueberry Imperial Sour & Blueberry & Choc Muffin Nitro Imperial Pastry Stout
Tapped June 19, 2020
When it comes to breweries sharing their message with the people, traditional marketing will probably always have its place. But ask any brewery owner and they'll tell you about the immense value of their loyal followers - their "tribe" - when it comes to building a reputation. One Drop have been winning loyal followers left, right and centre, so for the social media launch of these two beers, they called on their tribe to do the heavy lifting. The brewery itself posted only a hashtag -… Read more
Red
- Style
- Imperial Fruit Sour & Imperial Pastry Stout
- ABV
- 10.8% & 10.9%
Bodriggy Brewing Big 'Sner & Moonbeam
Tapped June 19, 2020
These twin releases from Boddriggy may both be inspired by New Zealand but it’s there any similarities end. Big ‘Sner is an imperial celebration of New Zealand pilsners, taking inspiration in particular from one of the country's best known: Emerson’s Pilsner. Using nothing but NZ malts and hopped with Wai-iti and experimental variety HORT-9909, you can certainly tell there are Kiwi hops within. Along with a sherbety lemon and peach character, there’s that slightly sharper diesel-esque quality… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Imperial NZ Pilsner & Fruit Ginger Sour
- ABV
- 9.0% & 6.0%
Prancing Pony Magic Carpet Ride (Cans)
Tapped June 18, 2020
Magic Carpet Ride has been part of Prancing Pony's seasonal offering since 2015 and has made the move into cans for winter 2020. Such is the voluptuous nature of the liquid, I'm torn between whether the carpet is deep shag pile or a tightly woven rug from a North African market that would weigh about 250kg. Given it's magic, we'll go with the latter, especially as it pours with a dark plummy sheen. Dip below the surface, past the dark chocolate and espresso aromas, and you'll find a beer that leans… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Imperial Stout
- ABV
- 9.0%
- Bitterness
- 55 IBU
Prancing Pony Miss Kitty Schwarzbier
Tapped June 18, 2020
The German Schwarzbier isn't a particular common style of beer, especially among Aussie brewers. Yet it's a style that holds the record for longest reigning Champion Australian Beer at the country's biggest awards, the Australian International Beer Awards. Admittedly, that's on something of a technicality as 4 Pines' dark lager that took out the title in 2019 has yet to be knocked off its perch as there's been no 2020 awards thanks to that pesky pandemic. Of all the other Aussie brewers you might… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Schwarzbier
- ABV
- 4.8%
- Bitterness
- 26 IBU
Prancing Pony Black Ale Cascadian
Tapped June 18, 2020
A sign of the times here as Prancing Pony shelve their Black Ale and introduce, um, Black Ale. Or, to be clear, their original 6 percent ABV Black Ale is shelved for a new 6 percent ABV Black Ale. OK, let's try again: the original Black Ale was more in easy-drinking stout / dark ale territory; here they've taken inspiration from the Cascadian dark ales or black IPAs of the Pacific Northwest and upped the hops, body and impact. The result is a beer that's less black than mahogany and leads off with… Read more
Dark Brown
- Style
- Cascadian Dark Ale
- ABV
- 6.0%
- Bitterness
- 56 IBU
Capital Brewing & ONA Roasters First Tracks Imperial Stout
Tapped June 17, 2020
It's a beer with a background story that runs to a few chapters. Then again, First Tracks is a beer that tells quite the story of its own. So let's start at the very beginning... The OG First Tracks was Capital's first ever seasonal release: a coffee-infused 5.2 percent ABV stout conceived with their coffee roasting mates at ONA. It's returned every winter since and their friendship even led to the formation of a heavy metal band named Peril featuring both brewers and roasters. In recent years, ONA's… Read more
Black
- Style
- Coffee Imperial Stout
- ABV
- 10.5%
- Stockists
-
Find stockists here
Bodriggy Brewing Draught
Tapped June 15, 2020
Once a word only found on Australia’s many variations of Big Beer lager, “Draught” has made its way onto plenty of small brewery tins in recent times too. The beer itself might a lager, at times it’s an ale. But what the term does always signal is: if you're after a beer to knock back by the pint, or to consume straight from the can on the couch, then this is likely for you. Bodriggy Brewing's Draught is a Kölsch, the German-style that effectively straddles lager and ale territory, and… Read more
Pale Yellow
- Style
- Kolsch
- ABV
- 4.5%
Bodriggy Brewing Fuzzy Dance Explosion
Tapped June 15, 2020
Fuzzy Dance Explosion is Bodriggy’s newest sour and that name is precisely what the beer aims to do: get your tastebuds grooving through a mix of hazy, juicy acidity. The Abbotsford brewery has stuck fruit and plenty of other parts of the pantry into their sours but for this beer, the brewers have gone for a more straightforward approach to provide that tingle on the tongue. Instead it’s the hops, Galaxy and Sabro, that drive that tropical flavour with the tart and juicy lines being delivered… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- Tropical Sour
- ABV
- 4.0%
Stomping Ground Upside Down Brown Ale
Tapped June 14, 2020
As with many of their peers, one of the ways in which Stomping Ground adapted to the time of COVID-19 was to start canning more of their beers – both limited releases and some that had been around for years but only in draught form. Upside Down Brown sits in the latter category: a popular pour at their brewpub in Collingwood but the sort of beer likely to be nudged down the: "What shall we can next?" discussion list in pre-pandemic, pro-hop days. Why? Well, it's about as unfashionable… Read more
Rich Brown
- Style
- English Brown Ale
- ABV
- 5.2%
Stomping Ground Resinator IPA
Tapped June 14, 2020
On the surface, there's little in common between the two cans to leave Stomping Ground in early June 2020, yet both conjure nostalgia for the mother country for this beer writer. In the case of Upside Down Brown it's easy to understand why as it's a beer inspired by those of the UK. For this IPA brewed with experimental hop variety HBC 520 (alongside Strata, Ekuanot and Chinook), however, it's a little more of a tangent, although I'll warrant there will be readers out there who see its name and find… Read more
Golden Yellow
- Style
- IPA
- ABV
- 6.1%
